Wellington posters call for race riots

Posters calling for people to show "white power" and riot Australian-style have appeared at Wellington railway stations.

"If Sydney can do it so can we ... let's take back our land," say posters at Johnsonville and Khandallah.

Train commuter Brent Cantwell said he was appalled.

"It's just terrible, it's awful," he said. "It's fear-driven - fear of having something taken away which they have no control over."

Another commuter, John Grant, said the posters were shocking but he did not believe race riots like those at Cronulla Beach in Sydney would happen here.

On Sunday, a 5000-strong alcohol-fuelled mob chased and beat people of Middle Eastern appearance at Cronulla. Thirty-one people were injured.

Wellington's posters have been attributed to the white-supremacist group White Crusaders of the Racial Holy War.

The group was not known to police, said Sergeant Maggie Windle. Nor was it known to Kerry Bolton, a former National Front secretary who is now spokesman for the New Right breakaway group.

He was not impressed with the posters, saying people would be better directing their attention to the politicians and businessmen who were responsible for immigration.

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said he had not heard of the group but was not surprised it existed.

A number of race-hate incidents had occurred over the past year, including the vandalism of Muslim worship centres in Auckland and letters of abuse being stuffed with pork and sent to Wellington Muslims, he said.

"There are people in New Zealand who have the kind of views evident in Australia but they have never had much of a following in New Zealand."

The White Crusaders' website says the movement is broadly based on the writings of Ken Klassen, the founder of Creativity, a religion dedicated to the survival, expansion and advancement of "our race exclusively".